UPSC Mains 2024 GS1 Q9 — Indian Society
Intercaste marriages between castes which have socio-economic parity have increased, to some extent, but this is less true of interreligious marriages. Discuss. (Answer in 150 words) 10
Question Decoded — examiner's intent
- Directive verbs
- Discuss
- Scope keywords
- Intercaste marriagessocio-economic parityincreasedinterreligious marriagesless true
- Implicit sub-parts
- Why socio-economic parity (class similarity) acts as a bridge for intercaste unions in urban/middle-class India.
- The role of education, employment, and common lifestyles in blurring sub-caste identities while maintaining status.
- Barriers specific to interreligious marriages such as personal laws, religious conversion debates, and social communalization.
- The role of family and institutional pushback (e.g., 'love jihad' narratives or lack of secular civil code) in limiting religious boundary crossing.
- Common pitfalls
- Focusing only on 'Honor Killings' without addressing the 'socio-economic parity' aspect mentioned in the prompt.
- Treating intercaste and interreligious marriages as the same phenomenon with the same barriers.
- Ignoring the persistence of endogamy within the same socio-economic strata (e.g., through matrimonial sites).
- Failing to mention the legal/institutional hurdles like the Special Marriage Act's notice period versus personal laws.
- Providing a generic essay on 'Caste System' instead of analyzing modern marriage trends.
- Dimensions required
- Sociological (Class vs Caste dynamics)Legal-Institutional (Personal Laws and Special Marriage Act)Political (Communalization and Social Polarization)Economic (Urbanization and Liberalization effects)Cultural (Homogenization of lifestyles in the middle class)
- Marks allocation hint
Devote 40 words to explaining how class parity facilitates intercaste unions through shared workspaces and lifestyles. Use 70 words to analyze why religion remains a more rigid boundary due to legal complexities and social identity politics. Use the remaining 40 words for a balanced introduction and a conclusion on the slow transition from 'ascriptive' to 'achieved' status.
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